Surrounded by these people I thought were my friends
Peddling their goods, displaying what price their heart is for sale:
Some of the rich sold cheap plastic jewelry
Some of the old were bungee-jumping inside a mall.
Out of nowhere you showed up
We were partnered, not like now where I
Haven’t seen you in a year
I was surprised it was you this time
You must be the understudy
To my usual cast.
The timeline is hazy
But you were upset
You thought I was hiding it
Among this group of friends
You started sobbing
I was baffled and ashamed.
You wanted me to take your hand.
I seized your milky white palm in mine
And walked through the crowd as if I didn’t know these people
The way I walk through the grocery store;
Anonymity at its best.
Perhaps it’s not what you want to hear
But I had confidence,
I wasn’t going to let them break us, you.
Times appointed for delivering
Your body with our missing components
Arose and we were rushed so
The people made no difference then.
They really don’t make a difference now
And maybe the point of it all was that:
To show me who I have been
Hiding in plain sight.
Maybe it wasn’t you. Maybe it could be him
Or her
Or just me.
I was never going to hang my head in shame
What have I done to feel so worthy of death?
Times in the past I have welcomed its end
But now I have a reason to get up in the morning
If to do nothing more
Than to write about my dreams.
